$13 E-Reader Could Be Your Next Smartphone Accessory

Here comes a new challenger. Photo: txtr

It seems you can’t finish a book without a new e-reader being announced. The newest way to read books without killing a tree comes from Germany, and if the company, txtr, can get carriers on-board, it’ll cost as little at $13, or less that J.K. Rowling’s latest book.

Just don’t expect the device, called the txtr beagle, to have all the bells and whistles found on offerings from Barnes & Noble and Amazon. The bare-bones e-reader ships sans Wi-Fi. Users will sync books to the Bluetooth-enabled device via an Android app. (An iOS app is currently in development). As one might expect, there’s no illumination or touchscreen on the five-inch e-ink device. For power, the tiny beagle uses two AAA batteries instead of an integrated rechargeable. According to txtr, one pair of batteries will get you through 12 to 15 books.

The company is looking for carrier partners to subsidize the e-reader, much the same way they do mobile phones. Thomas Leliveld, txtr chief commercial officer, stated in a press release: “So far network operators have not actively marketed eReading. In our view, this is because of the lack of a suitable device, which matches the crucial conditions relevant to the operator business model.”